With several hundred people screaming at one another, sometimes only inches apart, it was a fierce and visceral display of the emotions raised by the takeover, which began on Jan. 2.

As recently as this weekend, only one demonstration had been expected: Professed patriot groups had issued a call for militia members and others who support the takeover of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge to come here and make their voices heard.

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Protesters angered by the death of LaVoy Finicum gathered outside the Harney County courthouse on Monday, chanting “Hands Up, Don’t Shoot.”

They had planned to protest and denounce the arrest last week of the occupation’s leader, Ammon Bundy, and the death of LaVoy Finicum, one of the group’s most visible members, who was shot by Oregon State Police troopers after a car chase. Eleven people have been arrested in connection with the takeover, and four people are still refusing to leave the refuge, about 30 miles outside town.

In a surprisingly vocal counterprotest, local residents arrived at the Harney County courthouse first on Monday, and in what seemed to be larger numbers. They shouted, “Go home! Go home!” at the occupation supporters across the sidewalk — many of whom were visibly armed and carried American flags.

The supporters, most of them from out of state, shouted back that freedom for all Americans was under threat no matter where you lived, and that patriotism was on their side. “Where are your flags?” they shouted. “Where are your flags?”

County officials, including Sheriff Dave Ward, watched the spectacle from a second-story window in the courthouse.

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A pro-militia demonstrator outside the Harney County Courthouse in Burns, Ore., on Monday.CreditJim Urquhart/Reuters

One of the occupation supporters was Billy Hennessey, a car salesman who drove three hours from Boise, Idaho, to protest Mr. Finicum’s death. “People shouldn’t die for expressing a different opinion,” he said. He carried a sign saying, “For the love of God, free the people.”

Caryn Burri, a Burns resident who wants the town to return to normal, said she was there to urge the F.B.I. to go home, and the only way for that to happen, she said, was for the armed outsiders to go home first.

“If they leave, the F.B.I. can leave,” she said.

As the demonstrations went on, there were scenes of high tension, with police officers sometimes physically separating people, but also attempts at conversion, as when Grant Gunderson, 67, a retired wildlife biologist who lives in Burns, tried to convince a neighbor that he was on the wrong side of the demonstration.

“We don’t need them here,” Mr. Gunderson said, gesturing to the Bundy/Finicum supporters. The two men hugged, but the argument was not won.

The neighbor went back to the other side of the divide, saying, “They’re for freedom.”

Julie Turkewitz contributed reporting.

A version of this article appears in print on , on Page A20 of the New York edition with the headline: Both Sides in Takeover Face Off in Oregon. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe